This invention relates generally to cellular communications and, in particular, to methods for performing dynamic channel management in a cellular system.
Conventional channel management methods are based on the assumption that traffic demands can be accurately predicted both as a function of time and geographic location over the earth. If this assumption was true, it would be possible to estimate how many channels are needed per cell as a function of time and pre-allocate the requisite channels to satisfy the expected demand. In reality, this is a very unlikely situation because actual demand cannot be predicted very accurately because of the stochastic nature of the traffic demands.
There are a few drawbacks of conventional channel management methods which use static assumptions and models. First, there is bandwidth wastage when actual channel or caller demand falls short of the pre-allocated amount. Calls could be better allocated to base stations which are experiencing less than expected caller demand (i.e., under-utilized base stations). Second, there may be bandwidth shortage resulting in blocked and dropped calls when the actual channel demand exceeds the pre-allocated amount. These disadvantages, bandwidth wastage and shortage, are just a few of the problems associated with channel management when based on static or historic caller demands rather than actual traffic demands. Accordingly, there is a significant need for dynamic channel management methods that overcome the disadvantages of static channel management and enables a cellular communication system to be more responsive to actual traffic demand conditions.